Fall Primetime Television Lineup 2014

Another year passes and we begin again, so what have the networks green lighted for this year? Take a look at the lineup below to see what they have in store for you the viewer this coming fall..

Monday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Dancing with the Stars, Castle.

CBS The Big Bang Theory, Mom, Scorpion, NCIS: Los Angeles.

CW The Originals, Jane The Virgin.

FOX Gotham, Sleepy Hollow.

NBC The Voice.

Before Smallville was pitched to the network years ago the original idea was to follow a young Bruce Wayne before he became Batman. It seems we have come full circle and will get to see this vison on the small screen but with a twist.

The series follows Gotham city detective James Gordon as he tries to track down who murdered young Bruce Wayne's parents. This could be DC's year to shine.

Tuesday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Selfie, Manhattan Love, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Forever.

CBS NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, Person of Interest.

CW The Flash, Supernatural.

FOX Utopia

NBC The Voice, Marry Me, About a Boy, Chicago Fire.

Despite the uproar over the costume choosen for the new The Flash series, I think it was one of the more interesting pilots that was green lighted this year.

Fuzzy versus Leather hmm I feel like they are trying to send a message...

A spin off of the series Green Arrow (which itself was a pseudo spin off of Smallville), The Flash follows the fan favorite DC comics hero of the same name as he fights to defend his city.

It might just be nostalgia kicking in but I really loved the short lived Flash series that was released back in the 90's and I can't wait to see this latest incarnation of Barry Allen in action every week.

Another Law & Order er I mean another NCIS Spin off, really? Is the creative well that dry in TV land? Only time will tell if this one can catch on.

Wednesday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC The Middle, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, Black-ish, Nashville.

CBS Survivor, Criminal Minds, Stalker.

CW Arrow, The 100.

FOX Hell's Kitchen, Red Band Society.

NBC The Mysteries of Laura, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D.

Black-ish reminds me a lot of the series Growing Up Fisher which I throughly enjoyed last season, with power house actors Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne this could be the breakout family comedy of the season.

Thursday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder.

CBS Thursday Night Football.

CW The Vampire Diaries, Reign.

FOX Bones, Gracepoint.

NBC The Biggest Loser, Bad Judge, A to Z, Parenthood.

Gracepoint is a murder mystery mini series based on a British television mini series called Broadchurch.

Broadchurch was picked up for a second season over in the U.K. and both Gracepoint and Broadchurch share actor David Tennant so it is unclear how this will effect the future of the series development if it becomes a hit.

Friday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Last Man Standing, Cristela, Shark Tank, 20/20.

CBS The Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods.

CW Whose Line Is It Anyway, America's Next Top Model.

FOX Masterchef Junior, Utopia.

NBC Dateline NBC, Grimm, Constantine.

Utopia is based on a Dutch show by the same name but it felt like Survivor without the interesting locations.

This may be the first reality series in awhile that crashes and burns fairly quickly. Hopefully this will cause a chain reaction so that we get better entertainment from the networks in the future.

I can dream can't I?

Saturday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Saturday Night Football

CBS Crimetime Saturday, 48 Hours.

CW hmm...

FOX Fox Sports Saturday.

NBC Rerun central.

Sunday Night Primetime Line Up

ABC Once Upon a Time, Resurrection, Revenge.

CBS Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, CSI.

CW Huh programing er maybe next year?

FOX The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, Mulaney.

NBC Sunday Night Football

The answer is... do SOMETHING!

Let's face it folks football is still king and will continue to be so for years to come, their is a reason that the amount of money the networks throw at the NFL each year is so huge.

So who came out on top last year amongst the major television networks?

Ranking by Total Viewers

1. CBS

2. NBC

3. ABC

4. Fox

5. CW

These numbers reflect total viewership numbers, not just the hotly contested 18-49 crowd that.

NBC had the biggest gain of any network in decades but was still unable to dethrone CBS from the top rank.

As we get deeper into the year even more series will be revealed and unfortunately some of them look absolutely dreadful (iZombie comes right to mind), who will win this year? It's hard to say.

I have been covering television for several years now and it still amazes me how the networks fail to respond to the changes in the way that television is now consumed.

With more people turning to other mediums for their entertainment and the rise of both DVR ussage and online outlets it is now a critical time to embrace change and try out new models for both development and scheduling.

Overall Football will still anchor the ratings for evey network involved in showing games but for how many more years will this continue before someone offers the NFL enough money for the exclusive rights to broadcast games online only?

Every year I like to share a small piece of television history and this year I would like to share the story of a now classic Christmas show.

The very first prime time animated television special was A Charlie Brown Christmas back in 1965.

Based on characters from the comic strip Peanuts created by Charles Schulz, the special was an uphill battle for Schulz who had to constantly fight with the network executives to get the special made how he had envisioned it.

The budget given to make the special was nearly non existant which resulted in many of its technical quirks.

When the network executives saw the final product they were appalled at what was presented to them and in their infinite wisdom perdicted that it would be a complete and utter flop that both children and parents alike would hate.

There was no time to fix it the way they wanted so they decided to air it anyway, nodding sagely in their belief of imminent failure. .

Much to their chagrin and despite the many technical problems evident in the special itself it became a huge success that we still watch on TV today forty-nine years later.

I fear the day will come when Jim Carrey tries to do a live action remake...